Resurrection out of Sheol-Hades

Resurrection Series (Part 4)

By Ed Stevens -- Then and Now Podcast -- Sept 8, 2013

INTRODUCTION:

A. Welcome back to another study of Biblical eschatology from a preterist

perspective.

B. Last time we took a closer look at the way we interpret the first eleven chapters of
Genesis, in regard to the Creation week and the global flood. The historicity of the
Genesis record has been under heavy attack for the last two hundred years
especially, so it is no surprise that some fellow preterists have also denied its
historicity and promoted a figurative, symbolic, or allegorical approach to it.

C. In this session we need to define some terms and restore the biblical concepts of
Sheol, Hades, and resurrection. We will look at some of the various definitions and
concepts that other Christians have had down through the centuries, where they
came from, and why they are wrong. Then we will show how the original biblical
definitions and concepts need to be restored.

D. Let's pray before we begin --

Redeemer of our souls, who alone possesses immortality and gives it to whomever
You wish, we exalt you for sovereignly acting in history to rescue our souls from
the clutches of Satan, Death, Hades, and Gehenna, and freely give us a living
hope for a new immortal body in which to live forever in your Holy Presence. Help
us understand what your Word truly teaches about resurrection and the afterlife.
We believe all those who are in Christ will have everlasting life in heaven with you,
as a result of what Your Divine Son Jesus did for us. It is in His Holy Name that we
pray. Amen.

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 There Are Two Basic Resurrection Views Within Preterism:

(1) COLLECTIVE BODY VIEW (CBV) — This view spiritualizes almost (if not) all of the
resurrection texts and says that they are talking about our souls being raised out of
spiritual death (sin-death or covenantal death) and being given a new status of life in
Christ. They describe the afterlife as being in a disembodied pure spirit form (like the
Greeks and Gnostics believed) with no individual body, but instead merged into the one
big collective body of all saints (kinda like the Hindus and Buddhists believe). They do
not see any of the New Testament resurrection texts as talking about a resurrection of
dead disembodied souls out of Hades at the Parousia. They think the New Testament
resurrection texts are mainly (if not exclusively) talking about this spiritualized
metaphorical concept of resurrection. Most of the advocates of this view believe that we
are already in "heaven now," already have our share in the one big collective "immortal
body now", already have sinless "perfection now", and have nothing new, different, or
better to look forward to after this physical life on earth is over.

(2) INDIVIDUAL BODY VIEW (IBV) — This view teaches that at the Parousia, Jesus
raised the dead (disembodied) saints out of Sheol (i.e., Hades) and gave them their new
immortal bodies and then took them to heaven to be with Him forever afterwards in
those new immortal bodies that are like Christ’s immortal body. Now today after AD 70,
when each individual saint dies physically, he does not have to go to Hades and wait
until the resurrection. Instead, when we die, we saints get our own new immortal body
that has been reserved in heaven for us, and then go to heaven to dwell with Him and
all the other saints forever.

In this session we want to look at Sheol or Hades. This will help us immensely as we try
to get a handle on this complex issue of resurrection. We want to see what Sheol-
Hades was, who it was that went there, and how they were to be raised back out of it.

This may not be one of our most interesting or exciting sessions, but it IS one of our
most important sessions, because it is laying a solid foundation for understanding what
our New Testament is talking about when it refers to the Resurrection of the Dead ones,
or the Resurrection from out of the Dead ones who were in Hades.

We will be looking at some excerpts from a chapter in Dr. Robert Morey's excellent book
on Death and the Afterlife. He has some of the best material on the subject of Sheol and
Hades that I have ever seen. We do not have time to read all of that chapter here, so I
will only pick out some of the best parts. The full article is attached at the end of this
lesson outline with all the footnotes and bibliographic references.

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 SHEOL, HADES, AND GEHENNA
By Dr. Robert A. Morey. Death and the Afterlife (Chapter 3, pp. 72-93).
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA: Bethany House Publishers, 1984.

One of the most crucial issues which determines our understanding of what the Bible teaches
about death and the afterlife is the proper interpretation of such key terms as Sheol, Hades and
Gehenna. No study of death [and resurrection] is complete without a thorough understanding of
these terms.

SHEOL
The Hebrew word Sheol is found 66 times in the Old Testament. While the Old Testament
consistently refers to the body as going to the grave, it always refers to the soul or spirit of man
as going to Sheol. The nature of Sheol and the condition of those in it is crucial to our
understanding of what the Bible teaches about what happens to man after death.

The Lexicographical Material

The first step in understanding any ancient or foreign word is to check the lexicons, dictionaries,
encyclopedias, etc., which deal with that language. Brown, Driver and Briggs based their A
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament on the work of Gesenius, one of the greatest
Hebrew scholars who ever lived. They define Sheol as: "the underworld ... whither man descends
at death" (p. 982). They trace the origin of Sheol to either sha-al, which means the spirit world to
which mediums directed their questions to the departed, or sha-al, which refers to the hollow
place in the earth where the souls of men went at death. Langenscheidt's Hebrew/English
Dictionary to the Old Testament (p. 337) defines Sheol as: "netherworld, realm of the dead,
Hades." The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia in Vol. IV, p. 2761, defines Sheol as:
"the unseen world, the state or abode of the dead, and is the equivalent of the Greek: Hades."
Keil and Delitzsch state that "Sheol denotes the place where departed souls are gathered after
death; it is an infinitive form from sha-al, to demand, the demanding, applied to the place which
inexorably summons all men into its shade."1

The lexicographical evidence is so clear that the great Princeton scholar, B. B. Warfield, stated
that with modern Hebrew scholars, there is no "hesitation to allow with all heartiness that Israel
from the beginning of its recorded history cherished the most settled conviction of the
persistence of the soul in life after death .... The body is laid in the grave and the soul departs to
Sheol."2 George Eldon Ladd in The New Bible Dictionary (p. 380), comments:

In the Old Testament, man does not cease to exist at death, but his soul descends to Sheol.

Modern scholarship understands the word Sheol to refer to the place where the soul or spirit of
man goes at death.3 None of the lexicographical literature defines Sheol as referring to the grave
or to passing into nonexistence.

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 Comparative Studies

In order to understand what a certain word meant in an ancient language, it is sometimes helpful
to find any parallel words in the other languages of that time. Thus comparative studies of Sheol
have been done which demonstrate that Sheol's parallels in other languages meant the place
where the soul of man goes at death. No research has found a place where Sheol's parallel means
the grave or nonexistence. For example, The Ugaritic ars and Accadian su alu clearly refer to the
netherworld.4 The Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greek parallels to Sheol clearly
meant the place of departed spirits.5 The Ethiopian Si'ol cannot mean anything other than the
netherworld, the place of conscious life after death.6

The Historical Context

What is important about comparative studies is that they place biblical words in their historical
context. The word Sheol should thus be understood in terms of what it meant in the Hebrew
language and by its parallel in the other languages of that time. Why?

When God wanted Israel to believe something which was unique and contrary to what the
surrounding cultures believed, He always clearly condemned and forbade the pagan beliefs and
then stressed the uniqueness of the new concept. For example, in order to establish monotheism,
God repeatedly and clearly condemned the pagan concept of polytheism and stressed
monotheism.

While God clearly condemned polytheism in the Old Testament, at no time did He ever condemn
belief in a conscious afterlife. At no time did God ever put forth the concept of annihilation or
nonexistence as the fate of man's soul at death.

Also, when Israel had a unique and contrary belief, the pagan societies around Israel would use
this belief as the grounds to persecute the Jews. Thus the Jews were persecuted for rejecting
polytheism and believing in monotheism. Daniel's three friends who were thrown into a fiery
furnace are an excellent example of such persecution.

Yet, where in recorded history did pagan religions or societies persecute the Jews because they
denied a conscious afterlife? To think that the Jews could go against the universally held concept
of a conscious afterlife and that the pagans would not seize upon this as a pretense for
persecution is absurd.

Since the universality of belief in a conscious afterlife is irrefutable, and there is no evidence that
Israel deviated from this belief, we must assume that the Old Testament taught a conscious
afterlife in Sheol as the fate of man's soul or spirit.

The Rabbinic Literature

It is universally recognized by modern Talmudic scholars that Sheol never meant the grave or
unconsciousness in rabbinic literature. Ginzburg states that in rabbinic writings one finds a
consistent conviction that "there exists after this world a condition of happiness or unhappiness

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for an individual."7 Guttman adds, "The Talmud, like the Apocryphal literature, knows of a kind
of intermediate state of the soul between death and resurrection; true retribution will be
dispensed only after the resurrection of the body. But along with this, we also find the fate in a
retribution coming immediately after death and in a life of blessedness for the soul in the
beyond."8

The rabbinic tradition before, during, and after the time of Christ describes the soul departing the
body and descending into Sheol at death.9 The rabbis consistently pictured both the righteous
and the wicked as conscious after death.10 The evidence is so overwhelming that the classic
Princeton theologian, Charles Hodge, stated, "That the Jews believed in a conscious life after
death is beyond dispute."11

The annihilationists have never discovered any evidence that the majority of Jews believed that
the soul was extinguished at death. There is no conflict in the rabbinic literature over this
issue.12

Sheol and the Grave

The KJV translates Sheol as "hell" 31 times, "grave" 31 times, and "pit" three times. Because of
this inconsistency of translation, such groups as the Adventists, Armstrongites, and Jehovah's
Witnesses have taught that Sheol means the grave. All the conditional immortalitists have
traditionally capitalized on the KJV's translation of Sheol as the "grave." For example, in The
Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers (Vol. I, pp. 162 and 298), Froom emphatically stated that
both Sheol and Hades meant the grave. It is to be regretted that even some modern versions have
carried on the tradition of translating Sheol as grave.

Since the conditional immortalitists stress that Sheol means the grave, we will pause at this point
to demonstrate that Sheol cannot mean the grave.

First, exegetically speaking, the initial occurrence of Sheol in the Old Testament cannot mean the
grave. The word Sheol is first found in Gen. 37:35. After the brothers had sold Joseph into
slavery, they informed their father that Joseph had been killed and devoured by a savage beast.
As Jacob held the bloodied and tattered remains of Joseph's coat in his hands, he declared:

"A wild beast has devoured him: Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." (v. 33)

As a result of the shock of the death of Joseph, Jacob cried:

"Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." (v. 35, lit. Heb.)

There are several things about this first occurrence of Sheol which should be pointed out.

1. Jacob assumed that his son was still alive and conscious after death and that he would
eventually reunite with his son after his own death. The German commentator Lange comments:

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One thing is clear: [Joseph's death] was not a state of nonbeing . ... Jacob was going to be with
his son; he was still his son; there was yet a tie between him and his son; he is still spoken of as a
personality; he is still regarded as having a being somehow and somewhere.13

2. Whatever else Sheol may mean, in this passage it cannot mean Joseph's grave, for Jacob
believed that Joseph had been devoured by an animal and had no grave. Since Joseph had no
grave, it is impossible for Jacob to be referring to being buried in a common grave with his
son.14

3. According to the context, Jacob is clearly speaking of reuniting with his favorite son in the
underworld, here called Sheol. He even speaks of "going down" to reunite with his son, because
it was assumed that Sheol was the place of departed spirits, probably a hollow place in the center
of the earth.

The second reason for not identifying Sheol as the grave is that when the biblical authors wanted
to speak of the grave, they used the word kever. That they did not view kever and Sheol as
synonymous is clear from the way these words are used throughout the Old Testament. For
example, in Isa. 14:19, the king is cast out of his grave (kever) in order to be thrown into Sheol
where the departed spirits can rebuke him (vv. 9, 10). In this passage, Sheol and kever are
opposites, not synonyms.

Third, in the Septuagint, Sheol is never translated as mneema, which is the Greek word for grave.
It is always translated as Hades which meant the underworld. Kever is translated as mneema 36
times and as taphos 45 times. But kever is never translated as Hades just as Sheol is never
translated as mneema.

Fourth, kever and Sheol are never used in Hebrew poetic parallelism as equivalents. They are
always contrasted and never equated. Kever is the fate of the body, while Sheol is the fate of the
soul (Ps. 16:&--11).

Fifth, Sheol is "under the earth," or "the underworld," while graves were built as sepulchres
above the earth, or caves, or holes in the earth. Sheol is called the underworld in Isa. 14:9. It is
also called "the lower parts of the earth" (KJV) in Ps. 63:9; Isa. 44:23; Ezek. 26:20; 31:14, 16,
18; 32:18, 24. Sheol is the opposite of heaven (Ps. 139:8). One must go "down" to get to Sheol
(Gen. 37:35).

Sixth, while bodies are unconscious in the grave, those in Sheol are viewed as being conscious
(Isa. 14:4-7; 44:23; Ezek. 31:16; 32:21).

Seventh, an examination of the usages of kever and Sheol reveals that Sheol cannot mean the
grave. The following twenty contrasts between kever and Sheol demonstrates this point:

1. While the kabar (to bury) is used in connection with kever, it is never used in connection with
Sheol. We can bury someone in a grave but we cannot bury anyone in Sheol (Gen. 23:4, 6, 9,
19, 20; 49:30, 31, etc.).

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2. While kever is found in its plural form "graves" (Ex. 14:11), the word Sheol is never
pluralized.
3. While a grave is located at a specific site (Ex. 14:11), Sheol is never localized, because it is
everywhere accessible at death no matter where the death takes place. No grave is necessary
in order to go to Sheol.
4. While we can purchase or sell a grave (Gen. 23:4-20), Scripture never speaks of Sheol being
purchased or sold.
5. While we can own a grave as personal property (Gen. 23:4- 20), nowhere in Scripture is Sheol
owned by man.
6. While we can discriminate between graves and pick the "choicest site" (Gen. 23:6), nowhere
in Scripture is a "choice" Sheol pitted against a "poor" Sheol.
7. While we can drop a dead body into a grave (Gen. 50:13), no one can drop anyone into Sheol.
8. While we can erect a monument over a grave (Gen. 35:20), Sheol is never spoken of as having
monuments.
9. While we can, with ease, open or close a grave (2 Kings 23:16), Sheol is never opened or
closed by man.
10. While we can touch a grave (Num. 19:18), no one is ever said in Scripture to touch Sheol.
11. While touching a grave brings ceremonial defilement (Num. 19: 16), the Scriptures never
speak of anyone being defiled by Sheol.
12. While we can enter and leave a tomb or grave (2 Kings 23:16), no one is ever said to enter
and then leave Sheol.
13. While we can choose the site of our own grave (Gen. 23:4- 9), Sheol is never spoken of as
something we can pick and choose.
14. While we can remove or uncover the bodies or bones in a grave (2 Kings 23:16), the
Scriptures never speak of man removing or uncovering anything in Sheol.
15. While we can beautify a grave with ornate carvings or pictures (Gen. 35:20), Sheol is never
beautified by man.
16. While graves can be robbed or defiled (Jer. 8:1, 2), Sheol is never spoken of as being robbed
or defiled by man.
17. While a grave can be destroyed by man Jer. 8:1, 2), nowhere in Scripture is man said to be
able to destroy Sheol.
18. While a grave can be full, Sheol is never full (Prov. 27:20).
19. While we can see a grave, Sheol is always invisible.
20. While we can visit the graves of loved ones, nowhere in Scripture is man said to visit Sheol.

Sheol and Its Inhabitants

Given the principle of progressive revelation, it is no surprise that the Old Testament is vague in
its description of Sheol and the condition of those in it. While the Old Testament prophets stated
many things about Sheol, they did not expound in any measure of depth on this subject. Another
reason for this vagueness is that a conscious afterlife was so universally accepted that it was
assumed by the biblical authors to be the belief of anyone who read the Scriptures. Since it was
not a point of conflict, no great attention was given to it.

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The following things are stated about Sheol with the caution that figurative language was used
by biblical authors in their description of Sheol and the conditions of those in it. Much harm has
been done by literalizing what was intended to be figurative.

First, Sheol is said to have "gates" by which one enters and "bars" which keep one in Job 17:16;
Isa. 38:10). Such figurative language conveys the idea that Sheol is a realm from which no
escape is possible.

Second, the Old Testament describes Sheol in the following ways:

1. Sheol is a shadowy place or place of darkness (Job 10:21, 22; Ps. 143:3). Evidently, it is
another dimension which is not exposed to the rays of the sun.

2. It is viewed as being "down," "beneath the earth," or in "the lower parts of the earth" (Job
11:8; Isa. 44:23; 57:9; Ezek. 26:20; Amos 9:2). These figures of speech should not be
literalized into an absurd cosmology. They merely indicate that Sheol is not a part of this
world but has an existence of its own in another dimension.

3. It is a place where one can reunite with his ancestors, tribe or people (Gen. 15:15; 25:8; 35:29;
37:35; 49:33; Num. 20:24, 28; 31:2; Deut. 32:50; 34:5; 2 Sam. 12:23). This cannot refer to
one common mass grave where everyone was buried. No such graves ever existed in recorded
history. Sheol is the place where the souls of all men go at death. That is why Jacob looked
forward to reuniting with Joseph in Sheol. While death meant separation from the living, the
Old Testament prophets clearly understood that it also meant reunion with the departed.

4. It seems that Sheol has different sections. There is the contrast between "the lowest part" and
"the highest part" of Sheol (Deut. 32:22). This figurative language implies that there are
divisions or distinctions within Sheol. Perhaps the Old Testament's emphatic distinction
between the righteous and the wicked in this life indicates that this distinction continues on in
the afterlife. Thus the wicked are said to be in "the lowest part," while the righteous are in "the
higher part" of Sheol. While this is not clearly stated in the Old Testament, there seems to be
some kind of distinction within Sheol. Later rabbinic writers clearly taught that Sheol had two
sections. The righteous were in bliss in one section while the wicked were in torment in the
other.

Third, the condition of those in Sheol is described in the following ways:

1. At death man becomes a rephaim, i.e., a "ghost, "shade," or "disembodied spirit" according to
Job 26:5; Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19. Instead of describing man as
passing into nonexistence, the Old Testament states that man becomes a disembodied spirit.
The usage of the word rephaim irrefutably establishes this truth. Langenscheidt's Hebrew-
English Dictionary to the Old Testament (p. 324) defines rephaim as referring to the "departed
spirits, shades." Brown, Driver and Briggs (p. 952) define rephaim as "shades, ghosts ... name
of dead in Sheol." Keil and Delitzsch define rephaim as referring to "those who are bodiless in
the state after death."15

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From the meaning of rephaim, it is clear that when the body dies, man enters a new kind of
existence and experience. He now exists as a spirit creature and experiences what angels and
other disincarnate spirits experience. Just as angels are disincarnate energy beings composed
only of "mind" or mental energy and are capable of supradimensional activity and such things as
thought and speech without the need of a physical body, even so once man dies, he too becomes
a disembodied supradimensional energy being and is capable of thought and speech without the
need of a body. This is why the dead are described as "spirits" and "ghosts" throughout the
Scriptures.

This concept is carried on into the New Testament in such places as Luke 24:37-39. A belief in
"ghosts" necessarily entails a belief that man survives the death of the body.

2. Those in Sheol are pictured as conversing with each other and even making moral judgments
on the lifestyle of new arrivals (Isa. 14:9-20; 44:23; Ezek. 32:21). They are thus conscious
entities while in Sheol.

3. Once in Sheol, all experiences related exclusively to physical life are no longer possible.
Those in Sheol do not marry and procreate children because they do not have bodies. Neither
do they plan and execute business transactions. Once in Sheol, they cannot attend public
worship in the temple and give sacrifices or praise. There are no bodily pleasures such as
eating or drinking. Those in Sheol do not have any wisdom or knowledge about what is
happening in the land of the living. They are cut off from the living. They have entered a new
dimension of reality with its own kind of existence (Ps. 6:5; Eccles. 9:10, etc.).

4. God's judgment upon the wicked does not cease when the wicked die in their sins. Thus some
of the spirits in Sheol experience the following:

a. God's anger (Deut. 32:22): According to Moses, the wicked experience the fire of YHWH's
anger in the "lowest part of Sheol." This passage would make no sense if the wicked are
nonexistent and Sheol is the grave.

b. Distress (Ps. 116:3): The Hebrew word matzar refers to the distress that is felt when in the
straits of a difficulty.16 It is found in this sense in Ps. 118:5. Also, the word chevel, which is
the poetic parallel for matzar, means "cords of distress" (2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 18:6).17

c. Writhing in pain Job 26:5): The Hebrew word chool means to twist and turn in pain like a
woman giving birth.18

It is obvious that nonexistence can hardly experience anger, distress, or pain. Thus, there are
hints in the above passages that not everyone experiences blessedness in the afterlife. Beyond
these three passages, the Old Testament does not speak of torment in the intermediate state.
While it speaks of the "everlasting humiliation and contempt" which awaits the wicked after the
resurrection (Dan. 12:2), the Old Testament tells us very little about the intermediate suffering of
the wicked in Sheol.

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5. In the Old Testament, the righteous as well as the wicked went to Sheol at death (Gen. 37:35).
Although this is true, the Old Testament saints did not have a clear understanding of what to
expect in Sheol. They were constantly torn by mixed emotions when they contemplated their
death. They did not experience the same joy and bold confidence that New Testament saints
express (Acts 7:59). While New Testament saints think of death as a "gain" (Phil. 1:21), the
Old Testament saints thought of it as "loss."

Given the principle of progressive revelation, Old Testament saints simply did not have all the
information which was needed to approach death with peace and joy. Just as the lack of New
Testament revelation prevented them from obtaining a clear conscience and full assurance of
faith (Heb. 10:1-4), even so they could not approach death with joy. That this is true can be
established upon several lines of reasoning.

First, the writer to the book of Hebrews tells us that the Old Testament saints were in bondage to
the fear of death and that Satan used this to oppress them.

Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same,
that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;
and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Heb.
2:14, 15)

Only after the Messiah came and wrested the keys of death and Hades from the Evil One would
God's people experience freedom from the fear of death (Rev. 1:18).

The bondage of fear which gripped the Old Testament saints expressed itself in different ways.
They had a fear of being separated from their living loved ones. They were afraid of being
severed from the joys of life (Ps. 6). They begged to be delivered from death and Sheol because
they did not look forward to death (Ps. 13). This is why they spoke of the "sorrows" (KJV) and
"terrors" of death (Ps. 18:4; 55:4; 116:3) instead of the triumph in death which New Testament
saints express (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

Second, while the overall picture of death was somewhat gloomy in the Old Testament, yet God
had begun to reveal to His people that they would be ushered into His joyous presence after
death. To be sure, these were only hints of glory, but hints they were. The ascension of Enoch
and Elijah to heaven indicated that the righteous could be taken into God's presence (Gen. 5:24,
cf. Heb. 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11). The verb which described Enoch's and Elijah's ascension (laqach)
was later used to describe the passage of the righteous out of Sheol into heaven (Ps. 49:15; cf.
73:24). Asaph expressed the hope that he would go to dwell at the throne of glory at death. Later
rabbinic writers consistently spoke of the righteous going to the throne of glory at death.

Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou hast taken hold of my right hand. With Thy
counsel Thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but
Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. (Ps. 73:23-25)

The Old Testament saints looked forward to reuniting with their departed loved ones (Gen.
37:35). This must have afforded them some comfort.

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Also, the Old Testament believers knew that Sheol was open to God's sight (Job 26:6) and that
they would still be in God's presence and protection (Ps. 139:8).

While the patriarchs went in mourning to Sheol, by the time of the Wisdom literature, a more
optimistic note was beginning to be sounded. The progress from Gen. 37:35 to Ps. 73:24
indicates a gradual change of attitude toward death which progressive revelation made possible.
While Old Testament saints knew that they were going to Sheol at death, there were hints that
they might be taken to heaven to be at God's throne after death. [End of Dr. Morey's Article]

CONCLUSION

In his article, Dr. Morey goes on to discuss the related terms of Hades and Gehenna. Hades, of
course, is simply the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew term Sheol. Sheol and Hades are talking
about the same place where all the dead (both righteous and wicked) were held captive until the
resurrection at the Last Day. Gehinnom is the Hebrew original from which the Greek Gehenna
was derived. Both are referring to the place of punishment for the devil and his angels, as well as
all wicked and unsaved humans. It is the same place that Jesus referred to when he talked about
the Eternal Fire, as well as John when he spoke of the Lake of Fire in the book of Revelation.
When Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20), there were no more souls
inside Hades. They had all been raised and judged and put into their respective eternal destinies,
either in the New Jerusalem, or the Lake of Fire.

The point of all this discussion about Sheol is to show that the Old Testament says quite a bit
about Sheol and its inhabitants -- a lot more than most people realize. And it certainly means that
there had to be a resurrection of all those dead ones out of Sheol-Hades. Revelation 20 is explicit
in showing that "the rest of the dead" would be raised out of Sheol-Hades at the end of the
millennium. This is when Death the last enemy was finally defeated and thrown into the Lake of
Fire. Since this is exactly what 1 Cor 15:23-28 is also talking about, it means that 1 Cor 15 must
also be talking about the resurrection of the dead ones out of Hades. Therefore, it should not
surprise us to find numerous references to the "resurrection of the dead ones" there in 1 Cor 15.
Notice that Paul does not refer to the resurrection of the dead one (singular), as if it was a
collective body, but rather to the resurrection of the dead ones (plural), which was a resurrection
of a bunch of individual souls out of Sheol-Hades. This is an often-overlooked point, especially
by the Collective Body guys, but it needs to be fixed firmly in our awareness.

That will wrap it up for this session. Next time we will spend most of our time on the Greek
words and phrases that are talking about resurrection in the New Testament. I suspect that will
really be helpful for all of us, as it was for me, since it is dealing with the biblical statements.
That is the most compelling argument of all, when we see how the biblical writers actually
explain their concepts of resurrection.

So, be sure to join us next time for that very interesting and helpful study.

Thank you so much for listening.

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 List of Hades Texts

Matt. 11:23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will
descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it
would have remained to this day.
Matt. 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My
church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Luke 10:15 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be
brought down to Hades!
Luke 16:23 “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far
away and Lazarus in his bosom.
Acts 2:27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW
YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.
Acts 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS
NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.
Rev. 1:18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I
have the keys of death and of Hades.
Rev. 6:8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name
Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of
the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts
of the earth.
Rev. 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave
up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to
their deeds.
Rev. 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second
death, the lake of fire.

List of Gehenna Texts

Matt. 5:22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty
before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty
before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go
into the fiery hell.
Matt. 5:29 “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is
better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be
thrown into hell.
Matt. 5:30 “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is
better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into
hell.
Matt. 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather
fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matt. 18:9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is
better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery
hell.

  12  
Matt. 23:15 ¶ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel
around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make
him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Matt. 23:33 “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of
hell?
Mark 9:43 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life
crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,
Mark 9:45 “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life
lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell,
Mark 9:47 “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the
kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell,
Luke 12:5 “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has
authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!
James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among
our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our
life, and is set on fire by hell.

  13  
 SHEOL, HADES, AND GEHENNA
Full Article with End Notes

By Dr. Robert A. Morey. Death and the Afterlife (Chapter 3, pp. 72-93).
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA: Bethany House Publishers, 1984.

One of the most crucial issues which determines our understanding of what the Bible teaches
about death and the afterlife is the proper interpretation of such key terms as Sheol, Hades and
Gehenna. No study of death is complete without a thorough understanding of these terms.

SHEOL
The Hebrew word Sheol is found 66 times in the Old Testament. While the Old Testament
consistently refers to the body as going to the grave, it always refers to the soul or spirit of man
as going to Sheol. The nature of Sheol and the condition of those in it is crucial to our
understanding of what the Bible teaches about what happens to man after death.

The Lexicographical Material

The first step in understanding any ancient or foreign word is to check the lexicons, dictionaries,
encyclopedias, etc., which deal with that language. Brown, Driver and Briggs based their A
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament on the work of Gesenius, one of the greatest
Hebrew scholars who ever lived. They define Sheol as: "the underworld ... whither man descends
at death" (p. 982). They trace the origin of Sheol to either sha-al, which means the spirit world to
which mediums directed their questions to the departed, or sha-al, which refers to the hollow
place in the earth where the souls of men went at death. Langenscheidt's Hebrew/English
Dictionary to the Old Testament (p. 337) defines Sheol as: "netherworld, realm of the dead,
Hades." The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia in Vol. IV, p. 2761, defines Sheol as:
"the unseen world, the state or abode of the dead, and is the equivalent of the Greek: Hades."
Keil and Delitzsch state that "Sheol denotes the place where departed souls are gathered after
death; it is an infinitive form from sha-al, to demand, the demanding, applied to the place which
inexorably summons all men into its shade."1

The lexicographical evidence is so clear that the great Princeton scholar, B. B. Warfield, stated
that with modern Hebrew scholars, there is no "hesitation to allow with all heartiness that Israel
from the beginning of its recorded history cherished the most settled conviction of the
persistence of the soul in life after death .... The body is laid in the grave and the soul departs to
Sheol."2 George Eldon Ladd in The New Bible Dictionary (p. 380), comments:

In the Old Testament, man does not cease to exist at death, but his soul descends to Sheol.

Modern scholarship understands the word Sheol to refer to the place where the soul or spirit of
man goes at death.3 None of the lexicographical literature defines Sheol as referring to the grave
or to passing into nonexistence.

Comparative Studies

  14  
In order to understand what a certain word meant in an ancient language, it is sometimes helpful
to find any parallel words in the other languages of that time. Thus comparative studies of Sheol
have been done which demonstrate that Sheol's parallels in other languages meant the place
where the soul of man goes at death. No research has found a place where Sheol's parallel means
the grave or nonexistence. For example, The Ugaritic ars and Accadian su alu clearly refer to the
netherworld.4 The Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greek parallels to Sheol clearly
meant the place of departed spirits.5 The Ethiopian Si'ol cannot mean anything other than the
netherworld, the place of conscious life after death.6

The Historical Context

What is important about comparative studies is that they place biblical words in their historical
context. The word Sheol should thus be understood in terms of what it meant in the Hebrew
language and by its parallel in the other languages of that time. Why?

When God wanted Israel to believe something which was unique and contrary to what the
surrounding cultures believed, He always clearly condemned and forbade the pagan beliefs and
then stressed the uniqueness of the new concept. For example, in order to establish monotheism,
God repeatedly and clearly condemned the pagan concept of polytheism and stressed
monotheism.

While God clearly condemned polytheism in the Old Testament, at no time did He ever condemn
belief in a conscious afterlife. At no time did God ever put forth the concept of annihilation or
nonexistence as the fate of man's soul at death.

Also, when Israel had a unique and contrary belief, the pagan societies around Israel would use
this belief as the grounds to persecute the Jews. Thus the Jews were persecuted for rejecting
polytheism and believing in monotheism. Daniel's three friends who were thrown into a fiery
furnace are an excellent example of such persecution.

Yet, where in recorded history did pagan religions or societies persecute the Jews because they
denied a conscious afterlife? To think that the Jews could go against the universally held concept
of a conscious afterlife and that the pagans would not seize upon this as a pretense for
persecution is absurd.

Since the universality of belief in a conscious afterlife is irrefutable, and there is no evidence that
Israel deviated from this belief, we must assume that the Old Testament taught a conscious
afterlife in Sheol as the fate of man's soul or spirit.

The Rabbinic Literature

It is universally recognized by modern Talmudic scholars that Sheol never meant the grave or
unconsciousness in rabbinic literature. Ginzburg states that in rabbinic writings one finds a
consistent conviction that "there exists after this world a condition of happiness or unhappiness
for an individual."7 Guttman adds, "The Talmud, like the Apocryphal literature, knows of a kind

  15  
of intermediate state of the soul between death and resurrection; true retribution will be
dispensed only after the resurrection of the body. But along with this, we also find the fate in a
retribution coming immediately after death and in a life of blessedness for the soul in the
beyond."8

The rabbinic tradition before, during, and after the time of Christ describes the soul departing the
body and descending into Sheol at death.9 The rabbis consistently pictured both the righteous
and the wicked as conscious after death.10 The evidence is so overwhelming that the classic
Princeton theologian, Charles Hodge, stated, "That the Jews believed in a conscious life after
death is beyond dispute."11

The annihilationists have never discovered any evidence that the majority of Jews believed that
the soul was extinguished at death. There is no conflict in the rabbinic literature over this
issue.12

Sheol and the Grave

The KJV translates Sheol as "hell" 31 times, "grave" 31 times, and "pit" three times. Because of
this inconsistency of translation, such groups as the Adventists, Armstrongites, and Jehovah's
Witnesses have taught that Sheol means the grave. All the conditional immortalitists have
traditionally capitalized on the KJV's translation of Sheol as the "grave." For example, in The
Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers (Vol. I, pp. 162 and 298), Froom emphatically stated that
both Sheol and Hades meant the grave. It is to be regretted that even some modern versions have
carried on the tradition of translating Sheol as grave.

Since the conditional immortalitists stress that Sheol means the grave, we will pause at this point
to demonstrate that Sheol cannot mean the grave.

First, exegetically speaking, the initial occurrence of Sheol in the Old Testament cannot mean the
grave. The word Sheol is first found in Gen. 37:35. After the brothers had sold Joseph into
slavery, they informed their father that Joseph had been killed and devoured by a savage beast.
As Jacob held the bloodied and tattered remains of Joseph's coat in his hands, he declared:

"A wild beast has devoured him: Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." (v. 33)

As a result of the shock of the death of Joseph, Jacob cried:

"Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." (v. 35, lit. Heb.)

There are several things about this first occurrence of Sheol which should be pointed out.

1. Jacob assumed that his son was still alive and conscious after death and that he would
eventually reunite with his son after his own death. The German commentator Lange comments:

  16  
One thing is clear: [Joseph's death] was not a state of nonbeing . ... Jacob was going to be with
his son; he was still his son; there was yet a tie between him and his son; he is still spoken of as a
personality; he is still regarded as having a being somehow and somewhere.13

2. Whatever else Sheol may mean, in this passage it cannot mean Joseph's grave, for Jacob
believed that Joseph had been devoured by an animal and had no grave. Since Joseph had no
grave, it is impossible for Jacob to be referring to being buried in a common grave with his
son.14

3. According to the context, Jacob is clearly speaking of reuniting with his favorite son in the
underworld, here called Sheol. He even speaks of "going down" to reunite with his son, because
it was assumed that Sheol was the place of departed spirits, probably a hollow place in the center
of the earth.

The second reason for not identifying Sheol as the grave is that when the biblical authors wanted
to speak of the grave, they used the word kever. That they did not view kever and Sheol as
synonymous is clear from the way these words are used throughout the Old Testament. For
example, in Isa. 14:19, the king is cast out of his grave (kever) in order to be thrown into Sheol
where the departed spirits can rebuke him (vv. 9, 10). In this passage, Sheol and kever are
opposites, not synonyms.

Third, in the Septuagint, Sheol is never translated as mneema, which is the Greek word for grave.
It is always translated as Hades which meant the underworld. Kever is translated as mneema 36
times and as taphos 45 times. But kever is never translated as Hades just as Sheol is never
translated as mneema.

Fourth, kever and Sheol are never used in Hebrew poetic parallelism as equivalents. They are
always contrasted and never equated. Kever is the fate of the body, while Sheol is the fate of the
soul (Ps. 16:&--11).

Fifth, Sheol is "under the earth," or "the underworld," while graves were built as sepulchres
above the earth, or caves, or holes in the earth. Sheol is called the underworld in Isa. 14:9. It is
also called "the lower parts of the earth" (KJV) in Ps. 63:9; Isa. 44:23; Ezek. 26:20; 31:14, 16,
18; 32:18, 24. Sheol is the opposite of heaven (Ps. 139:8). One must go "down" to get to Sheol
(Gen. 37:35).

Sixth, while bodies are unconscious in the grave, those in Sheol are viewed as being conscious
(Isa. 14:4-7; 44:23; Ezek. 31:16; 32:21).

Seventh, an examination of the usages of kever and Sheol reveals that Sheol cannot mean the
grave. The following twenty contrasts between kever and Sheol demonstrates this point:

1. While the kabar (to bury) is used in connection with kever, it is never used in connection with
Sheol. We can bury someone in a grave but we cannot bury anyone in Sheol (Gen. 23:4, 6, 9,
19, 20; 49:30, 31, etc.).

  17  
2. While kever is found in its plural form "graves" (Ex. 14:11), the word Sheol is never
pluralized.
3. While a grave is located at a specific site (Ex. 14:11), Sheol is never localized, because it is
everywhere accessible at death no matter where the death takes place. No grave is necessary
in order to go to Sheol.
4. While we can purchase or sell a grave (Gen. 23:4-20), Scripture never speaks of Sheol being
purchased or sold.
5. While we can own a grave as personal property (Gen. 23:4- 20), nowhere in Scripture is Sheol
owned by man.
6. While we can discriminate between graves and pick the "choicest site" (Gen. 23:6), nowhere
in Scripture is a "choice" Sheol pitted against a "poor" Sheol.
7. While we can drop a dead body into a grave (Gen. 50:13), no one can drop anyone into Sheol.
8. While we can erect a monument over a grave (Gen. 35:20), Sheol is never spoken of as having
monuments.
9. While we can, with ease, open or close a grave (2 Kings 23:16), Sheol is never opened or
closed by man.
10. While we can touch a grave (Num. 19:18), no one is ever said in Scripture to touch Sheol.
11. While touching a grave brings ceremonial defilement (Num. 19: 16), the Scriptures never
speak of anyone being defiled by Sheol.
12. While we can enter and leave a tomb or grave (2 Kings 23:16), no one is ever said to enter
and then leave Sheol.
13. While we can choose the site of our own grave (Gen. 23:4- 9), Sheol is never spoken of as
something we can pick and choose.
14. While we can remove or uncover the bodies or bones in a grave (2 Kings 23:16), the
Scriptures never speak of man removing or uncovering anything in Sheol.
15. While we can beautify a grave with ornate carvings or pictures (Gen. 35:20), Sheol is never
beautified by man.
16. While graves can be robbed or defiled (Jer. 8:1, 2), Sheol is never spoken of as being robbed
or defiled by man.
17. While a grave can be destroyed by man Jer. 8:1, 2), nowhere in Scripture is man said to be
able to destroy Sheol.
18. While a grave can be full, Sheol is never full (Prov. 27:20).
19. While we can see a grave, Sheol is always invisible.
20. While we can visit the graves of loved ones, nowhere in Scripture is man said to visit Sheol.

Sheol and Its Inhabitants

Given the principle of progressive revelation, it is no surprise that the Old Testament is vague in
its description of Sheol and the condition of those in it. While the Old Testament prophets stated
many things about Sheol, they did not expound in any measure of depth on this subject. Another
reason for this vagueness is that a conscious afterlife was so universally accepted that it was
assumed by the biblical authors to be the belief of anyone who read the Scriptures. Since it was
not a point of conflict, no great attention was given to it.

  18  
The following things are stated about Sheol with the caution that figurative language was used
by biblical authors in their description of Sheol and the conditions of those in it. Much harm has
been done by literalizing what was intended to be figurative.

First, Sheol is said to have "gates" by which one enters and "bars" which keep one in Job 17:16;
Isa. 38:10). Such figurative language conveys the idea that Sheol is a realm from which no
escape is possible.

Second, the Old Testament describes Sheol in the following ways:

1. Sheol is a shadowy place or place of darkness (Job 10:21, 22; Ps. 143:3). Evidently, it is
another dimension which is not exposed to the rays of the sun.

2. It is viewed as being "down," "beneath the earth," or in "the lower parts of the earth" (Job
11:8; Isa. 44:23; 57:9; Ezek. 26:20; Amos 9:2). These figures of speech should not be
literalized into an absurd cosmology. They merely indicate that Sheol is not a part of this
world but has an existence of its own in another dimension.

3. It is a place where one can reunite with his ancestors, tribe or people (Gen. 15:15; 25:8; 35:29;
37:35; 49:33; Num. 20:24, 28; 31:2; Deut. 32:50; 34:5; 2 Sam. 12:23). This cannot refer to
one common mass grave where everyone was buried. No such graves ever existed in recorded
history. Sheol is the place where the souls of all men go at death. That is why Jacob looked
forward to reuniting with Joseph in Sheol. While death meant separation from the living, the
Old Testament prophets clearly understood that it also meant reunion with the departed.

4. It seems that Sheol has different sections. There is the contrast between "the lowest part" and
"the highest part" of Sheol (Deut. 32:22). This figurative language implies that there are
divisions or distinctions within Sheol. Perhaps the Old Testament's emphatic distinction
between the righteous and the wicked in this life indicates that this distinction continues on in
the afterlife. Thus the wicked are said to be in "the lowest part," while the righteous are in "the
higher part" of Sheol. While this is not clearly stated in the Old Testament, there seems to be
some kind of distinction within Sheol. Later rabbinic writers clearly taught that Sheol had two
sections. The righteous were in bliss in one section while the wicked were in torment in the
other.

Third, the condition of those in Sheol is described in the following ways:

1. At death man becomes a rephaim, i.e., a "ghost, "shade," or "disembodied spirit" according to
Job 26:5; Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19. Instead of describing man as
passing into nonexistence, the Old Testament states that man becomes a disembodied spirit.
The usage of the word rephaim irrefutably establishes this truth. Langenscheidt's Hebrew-
English Dictionary to the Old Testament (p. 324) defines rephaim as referring to the "departed
spirits, shades." Brown, Driver and Briggs (p. 952) define rephaim as "shades, ghosts ... name
of dead in Sheol." Keil and Delitzsch define rephaim as referring to "those who are bodiless in
the state after death."15

  19  
From the meaning of rephaim, it is clear that when the body dies, man enters a new kind of
existence and experience. He now exists as a spirit creature and experiences what angels and
other disincarnate spirits experience. Just as angels are disincarnate energy beings composed
only of "mind" or mental energy and are capable of supradimensional activity and such things as
thought and speech without the need of a physical body, even so once man dies, he too becomes
a disembodied supradimensional energy being and is capable of thought and speech without the
need of a body. This is why the dead are described as "spirits" and "ghosts" throughout the
Scriptures.

This concept is carried on into the New Testament in such places as Luke 24:37-39. A belief in
"ghosts" necessarily entails a belief that man survives the death of the body.

2. Those in Sheol are pictured as conversing with each other and even making moral judgments
on the lifestyle of new arrivals (Isa. 14:9-20; 44:23; Ezek. 32:21). They are thus conscious
entities while in Sheol.

3. Once in Sheol, all experiences related exclusively to physical life are no longer possible.
Those in Sheol do not marry and procreate children because they do not have bodies. Neither
do they plan and execute business transactions. Once in Sheol, they cannot attend public
worship in the temple and give sacrifices or praise. There are no bodily pleasures such as
eating or drinking. Those in Sheol do not have any wisdom or knowledge about what is
happening in the land of the living. They are cut off from the living. They have entered a new
dimension of reality with its own kind of existence (Ps. 6:5; Eccles. 9:10, etc.).

4. God's judgment upon the wicked does not cease when the wicked die in their sins. Thus some
of the spirits in Sheol experience the following:

a. God's anger (Deut. 32:22): According to Moses, the wicked experience the fire of YHWH's
anger in the "lowest part of Sheol." This passage would make no sense if the wicked are
nonexistent and Sheol is the grave.

b. Distress (Ps. 116:3): The Hebrew word matzar refers to the distress that is felt when in the
straits of a difficulty.16 It is found in this sense in Ps. 118:5. Also, the word chevel, which is
the poetic parallel for matzar, means "cords of distress" (2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 18:6).17

c. Writhing in pain Job 26:5): The Hebrew word chool means to twist and turn in pain like a
woman giving birth.18

It is obvious that nonexistence can hardly experience anger, distress, or pain. Thus, there are
hints in the above passages that not everyone experiences blessedness in the afterlife. Beyond
these three passages, the Old Testament does not speak of torment in the intermediate state.
While it speaks of the "everlasting humiliation and contempt" which awaits the wicked after the
resurrection (Dan. 12:2), the Old Testament tells us very little about the intermediate suffering of
the wicked in Sheol.

  20  
5. In the Old Testament, the righteous as well as the wicked went to Sheol at death (Gen. 37:35).
Although this is true, the Old Testament saints did not have a clear understanding of what to
expect in Sheol. They were constantly tom by mixed emotions when they contemplated their
death. They did not experience the same joy and bold confidence that New Testament saints
express (Acts 7:59). While New Testament saints think of death as a "gain" (Phil. 1:21), the
Old Testament saints thought of it as "loss."

Given the principle of progressive revelation, Old Testament saints simply did not have all the
information which was needed to approach death with peace and joy. just as the lack of New
Testament revelation prevented them from obtaining a clear conscience and full assurance of
faith (Heb. 10:1-4), even so they could not approach death with joy. That this is true can be
established upon several lines of reasoning.

First, the writer to the book of Hebrews tells us that the Old Testament saints were in bondage to
the fear of death and that Satan used this to oppress them.

Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same,
that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;
and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Heb.
2:14, 15)

Only after the Messiah came and wrested the keys of death and Hades from the Evil One would
God's people experience freedom from the fear of death (Rev. 1:18).

The bondage of fear which gripped the Old Testament saints expressed itself in different ways.
They had a fear of being separated from their living loved ones. They were afraid of being
severed from the joys of life (Ps. 6). They begged to be delivered from death and Sheol because
they did not look forward to death (Ps. 13). This is why they spoke of the "sorrows" (KJV) and
"terrors" of death (Ps. 18:4; 55:4; 116:3) instead of the triumph in death which New Testament
saints express (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

Second, while the overall picture of death was somewhat gloomy in the Old Testament, yet God
had begun to reveal to His people that they would be ushered into His joyous presence after
death. To be sure, these were only hints of glory, but hints they were. The ascension of Enoch
and Elijah to heaven indicated that the righteous could be taken into God's presence (Gen. 5:24,
cf. Heb. 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11). The verb which described Enoch's and Elijah's ascension (laqach)
was later used to describe the passage of the righteous out of Sheol into heaven (Ps. 49:15; cf.
73:24). Asaph expressed the hope that he would go to dwell at the throne of glory at death. Later
rabbinic writers consistently spoke of the righteous going to the throne of glory at death.

Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou hast taken hold of my right hand. With Thy
counsel Thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but
Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. (Ps. 73:23-- 25)

The Old Testament saints looked forward to reuniting with their departed loved ones (Gen.
37:35). This must have afforded them some comfort.

  21  
Also, the Old Testament believers knew that Sheol was open to God's sight (Job 26:6) and that
they would still be in God's presence and protection (Ps. 139:8).

While the patriarchs went in mourning to Sheol, by the time of the Wisdom literature, a more
optimistic note was beginning to be sounded. The progress from Gen. 37:35 to Ps. 73:24
indicates a gradual change of attitude toward death which progressive revelation made possible.
While Old Testament saints knew that they were going to Sheol at death, there were hints that
they might be taken to heaven to be at God's throne after death.

HADES
The second key term in the biblical understanding of death and the afterlife is the Greek word
Hades. This word forms a linguistic bridge which takes us from the Old Testament view of death
to the New Testament position. The importance of a proper interpretation of this word cannot be
overstressed.

In the Septuagint, Hades is found 71 times. It is the Greek equivalent for Sheol 64 times. The
other seven times it is found in the Septuagint, it is the translation of other Hebrew words, some
of which shed significant light on what Hades meant to the translators of the Septuagint.

In Job 33:22, Hades is the translation of the Hebrew word memeteim, or "destroying angels
[KJV] ... the angels who are commissioned by God to slay the man."19 In this sense it refers to
disincarnate spirit creatures.

It is also used in Job 38:17 as the translation for the Hebrew, "the realm of ghosts or shades"
(KJV).20

It is used for "the shades of the underworld" in Prov. 2:18.21 This refers to the spirits of the
departed in Sheol who are viewed as "the dwellers in the Kingdom of the dead as in Homer and
Virgil and like the Latin word Inferi, it stands for the realm of disembodied souls."22

Not once is Hades the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for grave (kever). Not once does it
mean nonexistence or unconsciousness. The times it is used for words other than Sheol, it clearly
means the world of spirits. There is, therefore, no way to escape the conclusion that the
translators of the Septuagint clearly understood that Hades referred to the realm of disembodied
souls or spirits; and, we must also emphasize, that the translators of the Septuagint did not obtain
this concept from Platonic Greek thought but from the Hebrew concept of Sheol itself.

The Lexicographical Evidence

When we turn to the lexicographical material, we find that the authors of the Septuagint were
correct in their usage of Hades as the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew Sheol.

Arndt and Gingrich based their A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament on the work
of W. Bauer, one of the greatest Greek scholars who ever lived. They define Hades as "the

  22  
underworld ... the place of the dead" (p. 16). Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (p. 11) states that
Hades comes from two words which joined together mean "invisible," or "unseen." Thus it refers
to "the common receptacle of disembodied spirits."

The lexicographical material is so unanimous in defining Hades as the world of disembodied

souls that the Princeton theologian, A. A. Hodge, stated:

Modern Hebrew and Greek scholars ... unite with near unanimity in maintaining that these words
(Sheol and Hades) never on a single occasion in the Bible mean either "hell" or "the grave," but
always and only the invisible spirit world.23

Modern commentators do not hesitate to define Hades as the place of disembodied souls.24 This
is why no Hebrew or Greek scholar defines Hades as "the grave" or the "state of unconsciousness
or nonexistence."

The historical context of Hades and comparative studies or parallel words in other languages
have so firmly established that Hades refers to the place of disembodied souls that there is no
controversy on this point among biblical scholars. The conditional immortalitists, whether cultic
or neo-orthodox, simply ignore this linguistic and lexicographical material.

Hades and Its Inhabitants

The KJV mistranslated the word Hades in every occurrence just as it did with the word Sheol. It
is found ten times in the Greek New Testament. The Greek text underlying the KJV has it an
eleventh time in 1 Cor. 15:55, but this is a corrupt reading.

Perhaps the best way to clarify what the New Testament teaches about Hades is to first of all
state what Hades does not mean. Once we have cleared away any misconceptions of this word,
then we can present its meaning in the New Testament.

First, Hades does not mean death, because the Greek word thanatos is the word for death in the
New Testament. Also, Hades and death appear together in such passages as Rev. 1:18 where they
cannot be viewed as synonyms.

Second, Hades is not the grave, because the Greek word mneema is the word for grave in the
New Testament. Also, all the arguments which demonstrated that Sheol cannot mean the grave
apply equally to Hades seeing that Hades is the equivalent for the Hebrew word Sheol. The New
Testament's dependence upon the Septuagint demonstrates this point.

Third, Hades is not "hell," i.e., the place of final punishment for the wicked, because the Greek
word Gehenna is the word for "hell" in the New Testament.

Fourth, Hades is not "heaven," i.e., the place where the soul of the righteous goes at death to
await the coming resurrection, because the Greek word ouranos is the word for heaven in the
New Testament.

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Fifth, Hades is not the place of eternal bliss for the righteous after the resurrection, because the
new heavens and the new earth or the everlasting kingdom refer to this place (Matt. 25:34; Rev.
21:1).

Having clarified what Hades does not mean, we can now state the New Testament meaning of
this crucial word.

First, we must once again emphasize the importance of the principle of progressive revelation.
While Hades was consistently used in the Greek version of the Old Testament as the Greek
equivalent for the Hebrew word Sheol, this does not mean that Hades should be limited to the
Old Testament meaning of Sheol. The New Testament picks up where the Old Testament left off
by progressively developing the concept of what happens to the soul of man after death. We
should expect that the fuller revelation of Christ and the apostles will clarify what was vague in
the Old Testament (Heb. 1:1-3).

During the Intertestamental period, the Jewish concept of Sheol had progressed to the stage
where it was believed that Sheol had two distinct compartments, or sections. One section was a
place of torment to which the wicked went while the other was a place of conscious bliss, often
called "Abraham's bosom" or "paradise," to which the righteous were carried by angels.25 The
rabbis even discussed how many angels it took to carry the righteous to Abraham's bosom.

The rabbinic understanding of Sheol is the basis for Christ's illustration in Luke 16:19-31. While
only the rich man was directly said to be "in Hades" (v. 23), the phrase "Abraham's bosom" to
which the angels carried Lazarus (vv. 22, 23) must be interpreted as the section of Hades
reserved for the righteous. The dialogue between the rich man and Lazarus is an echo of multiple
stories in which such dialogues were described. Thus, initially, the first occurrence of Hades in
the New Testament refers to a concept of an afterlife which had evolved beyond the Old
Testament concept of Sheol and reflected the progress of understanding which had been
accomplished during the period between Malachi and Matthew.

Given the principle of progressive revelation, that Hades would evolve from merely being the
equivalent of Sheol into a word which meant more than Sheol is understandable and expected.
That Hades would have an Intertestamental rabbinic meaning at the beginning of the New
Testament and then evolve to mean more than the rabbinic understanding is also expected.

It is on this basis that all attempts to limit New Testament teaching on the afterlife to the gospel
materials such as Luke 16 must be rejected as a defective view. This view is built upon the
assumption that what Hades meant in the Gospels is what it must mean in the Epistles. This is a
failure to observe the principle of the progress of doctrine as well as the principle of progressive
revelation as given in the New Testament itself.26

We must also point out that when we state that the Old Testament saints and the Intertestamental
Jews did not have a clear and precise understanding of what happened after death, this does not
mean that their experience was not greater than their understanding. To deny that they
understood where they were going at death does not mean that they did not get there!

  24  
This also leads us to avoid the unnecessary debate on whether or not the story of the rich man
and Lazarus in Luke 16 should be viewed as a literal account or as a parable.

Many orthodox writers treat Luke 16 as a literal account.27 They deny that it is a parable on the
grounds that (1) the beggar must have been a real historical character because his name was
given; (2) Abraham was a real historical character; and (3) in parables names are not given. Thus
many orthodox writers demand that the story of the rich man and Lazarus be viewed as a literal
account.

Other writers usually treat Luke 16:19-31 as a parable and end up denying that it teaches
anything about death or the afterlife. They usually give interpretations which are quite wild and
farfetched.28

The basic problem is both sides assume that if Christ's story is a parable, it is meaningless, and if
it is not, it must be a literal account. They both fail to recognize that Christ's teaching was
rabbinic in methodology and that rabbinic parables often revolved around real historical
characters.

The rabbinic literature before, during, and after the time of Christ is filled with parables which
built imaginative stories around real historical characters.29 There are multiple examples in the
Talmud and Midrash of parables in which Abraham had dialogues with people such as Nimrod,
with whom he could never have spoken literally.30 Everyone understood that these parables and
dialogues did not literally take place. It was understood that the rabbis used imaginative stories
and dialogues as a teaching method. It was understood by all that these dialogues never took
place.

Therefore, it does not bother us in the least to say that Christ used a rabbinic story and dialogue
in Luke 16:19-31 which was not "true" or "real" in the sense of being literal. It is obvious that
Lazarus did not literally sit in Abraham's literal bosom. The rich man did not have literal lips
which literal water could quench.

What is important for us to grasp is that Christ used the mental images conjured up by this
rabbinic parable to teach that, in the hereafter, the wicked experience torment and the righteous
bliss. This is clear from the rabbinic sources from which he drew this parable.

Since the dialogue between the rich man and Abraham was a teaching tool used by the rabbis
before Christ, it is obvious that Christ was not trying to teach that we will talk with the wicked in
the hereafter. He was merely using the dialogue method to get across the concept that there is no
escape from torment, no second chance, and we must believe the Scriptures in this life unto
salvation.

That the Epistles would further develop what happens to the soul after death and go beyond the
gospel material is also expected. The apostles were conscious of the fact that their understanding
was clouded during their sojourn with Christ (John 12:16). It was only after Pentecost and the
final revelations given to the apostles that they could, at last, speak of death and the afterlife with

  25  
clarity. It was only after the last pieces of the cosmic puzzle of revelation were given that they
could see the whole picture.

Before Christ's ascension, believers as well as unbelievers were said to enter Sheol or Hades.
After Christ's resurrection, the New Testament pictures believers after death as entering heaven
to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23), which is far better than Hades. They are present with the Lord (2
Cor. 5:6-8), worshiping with the angelic hosts of heaven (Heb.l2:22, 23) at the altar of God (Rev.
6:9-11). Thus believers do not now enter Hades but ascend immediately to the throne of God.

In the New Testament, there is, therefore, a development of understanding which took place after
Christ's resurrection. Before Jesus was raised from the dead, the apostles assumed that everyone
went to Sheol or Hades. This Hades had two sections, one for the righteous and one for the
wicked. But Christ's resurrection changed this picture. Thus Paul uses the language of transition
when he speaks of Christ taking the righteous out of Hades and bringing them into heaven (Eph.
4:8, 9).

That Christ went to Hades, i.e., the world beyond death, is clear from Acts 2:31. While in Hades,
Peter pictures Christ as proclaiming to "the spirits now in prison" the completion of His
atonement (1 Pet. 3:18-22). Whereas "paradise" in the gospel account (Luke 23:43) referred to
the section of Hades reserved for the righteous, by the time Paul wrote 2 Cor. 12:2-4, it was
assumed that paradise had been taken out of Hades and was now placed in the third heaven.

According to the post-resurrection teaching in the New Testament, the believer now goes to
heaven at death to await the coming resurrection and the eternal state. But, what of the wicked?
The wicked at death descend into Hades which is a place of temporary torment while they await
the coming resurrection and their eternal punishment.

First, it is clear that the souls of the wicked are in torment during the intermediate state in Hades.
The Apostle Peter stated this in language which could not be clearer:

Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous
under punishment for the day of judgment. (2 Pet. 2:9)

First, Peter says that the wicked are "kept" unto the day of judgment. This word is in the present,
active, infinitive form, which means that the wicked are being held captive continuously. If the
wicked merely pass into nonexistence at death, there would be nothing left to be "kept" unto the
day of judgment. Obviously, Peter is grammatically picturing the wicked as being guarded like
prisoners in a jail until the day of final judgment.

Second, Peter says that the wicked are "being tormented." This word is in the present, passive,
participle form and means that the wicked are continuously being tormented as an on-going
activity. If Peter wanted to teach that the wicked receive their full punishment at death by
passing into nonexistence, then he would have used the aorist tense. Instead, he uses those Greek
tenses which were the only ones available to him in the Greek language to express conscious,
continuous torment. The grammar of the text irrefutably establishes that the wicked are in
torment while they await their final day of judgment.

  26  
When the day of judgment arrives, Hades will be emptied of its inhabitants, and the wicked will
stand before God for their final sentence (Rev. 20:B-15). Thus, we conclude that Hades is the
temporary intermediate state between death and the resurrection where the wicked are in
conscious torment. Hades will be emptied at the resurrection, and then the wicked will be cast
into "hell" (Gehenna).

GEHENNA

The third and last crucial term is the word Gehenna. This word is found twelve times in the New
Testament and is correctly translated each time by the KJV as "hell." It is a word which describes
the ultimate fate of the wicked after the general resurrection and judgment. While Sheol and
Hades describe the temporary abode of the dead until the resurrection, Gehenna is the place of
future punishment in the eternal state.

The Lexicographical Evidence

The word Gehenna is the Greek equivalent for "the valley of Hinnom" Josh. 15:8; 18:16; Neh.
11:30). It thus originally referred to the Valley of Hinnom, which was just outside the city of
Jerusalem. According to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (p. 111), it was the place where
idolatrous Jews gave human sacrifices to pagan deities (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6).
Because of these horrible idolatrous practices, the Valley of Hinnom was hated and considered
"unclean" by pious Jews. In Christ's day, this hatred of the Valley of Hinnom caused the valley
to become the town dump where all the garbage of Jerusalem could be thrown. Unclean corpses
as well as normal garbage were thrown into it. Because garbage was constantly being thrown
into the valley, the fires never stopped burning and the worms never stopped eating.

This picture of an unclean garbage dump where the fires and the worms never died out became
to the Jewish mind an appropriate description of the ultimate fate of all idol worshipers. Gehenna
came to be understood as the final, eternal garbage dump where all idolaters would be thrown
after the resurrection. The wicked would suffer in Gehenna forever because the fires would never
stop burning them and the worms would never stop gnawing them.

Arndt and Gingrich also point out that the Jewish belief, before Christ, placed the last judgment
of the wicked in the Valley of Hinnom. They concluded that it means "the place of judgment."31
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Vol. II, p. 1182) states that Gehenna refers to
"the place of eternal punishment of the wicked." McClintock and Strong's Encyclopedia of
Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature defines Gehenna as "the place of eternal
punishment." Both Coon and Mills define Gehenna as referring to "the place of eternal
punishment."32

The Intertestamental Literature

The wicked do not descend into Gehenna at death, because it is the final place of punishment for
the wicked after the resurrection.33

  27  
In that hour the Lord will requite the nations of the world with a great and ceaseless retribution,
and hurl them down to the Gehenna, where they will be punished for generation upon generation.
(Mid. Gen. 908)

The Talmudic literature states that there are two classes of people who descend into Gehenna.
The disobedient among Israel descend into Gehenna for "twelve months" in order to be cleansed
of their sins in its fire. They then ascend to the throne of glory in paradise where the righteous
among Israel had already ascended at death (Bab. Tal. RH64). Idolaters and blasphemers remain
in Gehenna "to be punished for all generations" (Bab. Tal. RH65).

The figurative language utilized in the rabbinic description of Gehenna, such as "fire" (Mid. Gen.
214), "worms" (Bab. Tal. Shah 777, 778; The Wisdom of Sirach VII. 9), "weeping" (Bab. Tal.
ER129), "darkness" (Mid. Gen. 257), "judgment" (Bab. Tal. ER126), etc., are all carried over by
the teaching of Christ and the apostles into the New Testament itself. The descriptive language of
the Jewish apocalyptic literature, such as "fire and torment" (4th Macc. 12:12, 13), "fire and
sulfur" (Enoch LXVII.6), "black recesses of hell" (Sibylline IV, p. 83), etc., are clearly utilized
by Peter, Jude and John in their descriptions of the ultimate fate of the wicked after the
resurrection.

This Intertestamental evidence is so strong and consistent that the great Church historian Phillip
Schaff states:

Everlasting punishment of the wicked was and always will be the orthodox theory. It was held by
the Jews at the time of Christ, with the exception of the Sadducees, who denied the
resurrection.34

After an extensive research of Intertestamental literature, the greatest Christian Talmudic

scholar, Alfred Edersheim, a noted Hebrew Christian, concluded that Gehenna was understood in
Christ's time to refer to the place of eternal, conscious punishment for the wicked after the
resurrection.35 We have placed his discussion of the rabbinic sources in Appendix I for the
benefit of the reader.

Christ and Gehenna

The awful mental image of everlasting torment in the fires of Gehenna was conjured up in the
minds of the early disciples by the Master himself. Out of its twelve occurrences in the New
Testament, Gehenna is found no less than eleven times on the lips of the Lord Jesus himself.

To think that Christ was ignorant of what Gehenna meant to the common people of His day or to
assume that He was mistaken in using the rabbinic descriptions of Gehenna is to do great
injustice to Him who was the greatest teacher who ever lived. Indeed, the mere fact that Christ
utilized the rabbinic language connected with Gehenna, such as "unquenchable fire" and "never-
dying worms," demonstrates beyond all doubt to any reasonable person that He deliberately used
the word Gehenna to impress upon His hearers that eternal punishment awaits the wicked after
the resurrection. No other conclusion is possible.

  28  
The teaching of Christ concerning Gehenna is as follows:

First, Gehenna is the place of judgment (Matt. 23:33). He even used the rabbinic expression, "the
judgment of Gehenna" (Bab. Tal. ER126).

Second, Gehenna is always placed at the end of the world after the resurrection (Matt. 5:22;
23:33). This was expounded by John in Rev. 20:1-15. This was also the rabbinic position (Mid.
Gen. 159).

Third, Gehenna is the place where the body as well as the soul is punished (Matt. 5:22; 10:28;
Mark 9:43-48). The rabbis saw that the resurrection of the wicked was necessary in order for
them to receive their full punishment in the body (Mid. Gen. 159; 211n4).

Fourth, Gehenna was the place of conscious torment. When Christ used the phrases
"unquenchable fire" and "never-dying worms" (Mark 9:47, 48, author's paraphrase), He was
utilizing biblical (Isa. 66:24), apocryphal Judith XVI:17), and Talmudic (Mid. Gen. 214) images
which all meant conscious suffering.

The annihilationists have a counter argument at this point. They point out that, literally speaking,
while the worms and the fire in a city dump may destroy a dead carcass, it cannot be said that the
dead carcass feels any torment. Therefore, they conclude that Christ's language must be
interpreted to mean that the wicked will be annihilated, not tormented.

The problem with this interpretation is that it fails to take into account that when Christ spoke of
Gehenna in such terms as "worms and fire," He was clearly using rabbinic phraseology. Thus, it
is more crucial to discover how these words were understood in rabbinic literature than by
pointing to modern city dumps.

The Intertestamental literature is clear that the Jews believed that the departed could feel what
was happening to their dead body. Indeed, when the worms start gnawing on the body, "the
worms are as painful to the dead as a needle in the flesh of the living" (Bab. Tal. Shah. 777, 778).

Since the "gnawing worms" clearly meant conscious torment in rabbinic thought, the
annihilationists' argument is invalid due to their ignorance of the meaning of such rabbinic
terminology. That Judith XVI:17 also teaches conscious torment is clear.

Fifth, the wicked are cast into Gehenna and will remain there for all eternity (Matt. 5:29, 30). In
Gehenna, the wicked are "destroyed" (Matt. 10:28).

That the word "destroyed" (apollumi) does not mean "to annihilate" or "to pass into
nonexistence" is clear from the rabbinic meaning of the word, the lexicographical significance of
the word, and the way the word is used in the New Testament.

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon defines apollumi as "to be delivered up to eternal misery."36

Since Thayer himself was a Unitarian who did not believe in eternal punishment, his
definition could only be the result of his knowledge of the meaning of this Greek word. There is

  29  
no lexicographical evidence for the annihilationist's position that apollumi means "to annihilate"
or "to pass into nonexistence.''

That this word cannot mean "nonexistence" is clear from the way it is consistently used in the
New Testament (Matt. 9:17; Luke 15:4, 6, 8, 9; John 6:12, 27; 2 Cor. 4:9; etc.). Do people pass
into nonexistence when they are killed by a sword (Matt. 26:52) or a snake? (1 Cor. 10:9). Do
people become nonexistent when they are hungry? (Luke 15:17). Do wineskins pass into
nonexistence when they are destroyed by bursting? (Matt. 9:17). Is food annihilated when it
spoils? John 6:27).

In every instance where the word apollumi is found in the New Testament, something other than
annihilation is being described. Indeed, there isn't a single instance in the New Testament where
apollumi means annihilation in the strict meaning of the word.

CONCLUSION

Gehenna as a place of final punishment was a clear rabbinic teaching before Christ was ever
born. The Midrash, the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and apocryphal literature refer to
Gehenna hundreds of times. The Midrash alone refers to Gehenna over seventy- five times.

The vivid imagery and striking phraseology found in the Intertestamental literature, which
described Gehenna as the ultimate place of eternal torment for the wicked, was clearly carried
over into the New Testament itself by the teaching of Christ and the apostles.

That the ultimate fate of the wicked will be eternal, conscious torment will be further argued in a
later chapter, but we have demonstrated in this chapter that Gehenna is the ultimate fate of all
impenitent sinners according to rabbinic and New Testament literature. The concept of
Universalism, which sees no one going to Gehenna, or Gehenna ultimately being emptied of all
sinners, is an ideal which is absolutely foreign to the Intertestamental and New Testament
literature. The idea of annihilationism, in which the wicked cease to exist, may indeed be found
in some of the Intertestamental literature, particularly those works which were influenced by the
Sadducees or Stoics. But enough has been given in this chapter to demonstrate that the majority
view, that of the common man in the street, was of an eternal, conscious torment of the wicked in
Gehenna.

NOTES

1. Keil & Delitzsch, Commentaries on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Pub. Co., n.d.), Vol. I, p. 338.
2. Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield (ed. ). Meeler; New jersey: Pres. & Ref.
Pub. Co., 1970), pp. 339, 345.
3. See the works of Charles, Fife, Hough, Motzer, Marcarnty, Tromp, etc., for the details.
4. N. Tromp, Primitive Conceptions of Death and the Nether World in the Old Testament (Rome:
Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1969), p. 6.

  30  
5. R. Charles, A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life (London: Adam & Charles
Block, 1913), pp. 34f.; L. Bailey, Biblical Perspectives on Death (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1979), pp. Sf.
6. M. Fisher, "Some Contributions of Ethiopic Studies" in The Law and the Prophets (New
jersey: Pres. & Ref. Pub. Co., 1974), p. 81.
7. Essays in Greco-Roman and Related Talmudic Literature (New York: KTAV Pub. House,
1977), p. 36.
8. Ibid., p. 42.
9. Midrash: Gen. 96, 908; Bab. Tal. Shah 589; 777-779: Enoch 103:7, etc.
10. Midrash: Gen. 409, 516; Num. 733; Ecc. 83,229; Bab. Tal. Shah 777-779; PT Mo'ed Katan
111.5,826, Yebamuth XVI.3,15c, Bereshith Rabba c. 7, Vayyekin Rabba XVIII.l; Kohelith
Rabb 1.15, ed., Rom. 6a; Ruth Rabba 111.3,6c, etc.
11. C. Hodge, Systematic Theology (London: James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 1960), Vol. III, p. 770;
see also: Hough, p. 66; Bailey, p. 75; Bartlett, p. 143, 168; Strong, p. 994; Schaff, Vol. II, pp.
566, 606, 607; Charles, p. 167; Fife, p. 25; Buds, p. 16; Pussey, p. 49, etc.
12. Essays in Greco-Roman and Related Talmudic Literature, pp. 43, 44.
13. Lang's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Vol.!., p. 589.
14. Ibid., p. 588
15. Keil & Delitzsch, ibid., Vol. II on Job, p. 52.
16. Brown, Driver, and Briggs, p. 865.
17. Ibid., p. 286.
18. Ibid., p. 297.
19. Keil & Delitszch, ibid., Job II, p. 228; Lange, ibid., Vol. IV, p. 558.
20. Lange, ibid., p. 604.
21. Keil & Delitzsch, ibid., Prov., p. 83.
22. Lange, ibid., Prov., p. 56.
23. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1976), pp. 372,
373.
24. See Lange, Robertson, Alford, etc.
25. A. Edersheim, The Life and Time of Jesus the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Pub. Co., 1962), Vol. II, pp. 279-281, 791-796. For further sources in rabbinic literature, see:
Midrash: Gen. 68; Exo. 48; Lev. 405; 55:80; Ecc. 197. Bab. Tal.: Ber. 173; Shah. 589; ER
129.
26. The Classic work by Bernard, The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament, given at
Oxford University, develops this position brilliantly.
27. John Calvin, Psychopannychia, p. 431.
28. For examples of bizarre interpretations see: Let God Be True (New York: Watchtower and
Tract Society, 1946), p. 78f.; R. Whitelaw, Hell, the Abode of the Dead (Virginia: G.A.M.
Printers, 1981), pp. 19-28.
29. Midrash: Lev. 407; Eth. Enoch 22; Kohelith Rabba 1.15, d. Rom. 6a; Ruth Rabba 111.3, 6c.
30. Midrash: Gen. 310, 311.
31. Arndt and Gingrich, ibid., p. 152.
32. Coon, The Doctrine of Future and Endless Punishment Proved (Cincinnati: J.F. & V.P.
James, 1850), p. 72; Perspectives on Death (ed. L. Mills; New York: Abingdon Press, 1969),
p. 32.
33. Midrash: Gen. 22N9, 159:T.Shah. XIII.4, 5; etc.

  31  
34. P. Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1973), Vol. II, pp.
606, 607.
35. A. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1962),
Vol. II, pp. 791-796.
36. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 64.

  32